I've taken notice of a tweet from Russian ambassador claiming that, the Russia-Ukraine war has no negative impact on Ghana.

Arguably, can he tell us that the war has positive or no effect on us if his claim still holds?

It must be noted that, the real impact of each economy is dependent on the level of dependency on:

 oil and gas export or import

 tourism

 imported grains

 imported fertilizer

 imported iron ore and steel for the construction industry

 etc.

It is worth emphasizing that, the most visible impact in Ghana as a result of the Russia-Ukraine war are:

rising fuel prices as a result of external shocks 

rising food prices as a result of external shocks

 imported inflation

tightening the fiscal space which has resulted into financial instability which has a ripple effect on the outcome from the rating agencies as a result of a projected higher risk of default in the financial market

government's revenue impact as a result of:

Reduced trade

Reduced taxation revenue

Above all, Ghana economy is badly affected because, a larger proportion of our consumption expenditure is on food and transport, which has increased the inflation in Ghana resulting in the TUC and their members demanding a 15% COLA from the government.

 Reiterating the negative effect of this Russia-Ukraine war, it has disrupted critical imports in most of the economies worldwide with Ghana not an exemption.

This is true because, Ghana imports about 60% of its iron ore and steel from Ukraine which has impact on the construction industry.

The ambassador would have been right, if the war wasn't having any impact on those economies, he stated that Ghana imported goods from.

I believe that the ambassador is aware that, in any open economy, a government is able to manage internal factors than external factors which go beyond the control of the government.

In any case, it is admissible that, the government can put in some measures that could control the impact of the negative external factors, but to say that what is happening in the developed economies have no ripple effect is indeed not true.

Notwithstanding, it's my advice to the government to put in pragmatic emergency measures that could reduce the negative effect of the external shocks and not to continue to blame everything on Russia-Ukraine war.

After all, Ghanaians voted for the government to manage both the external and internal factors for the greater good of Ghanaians.

Alex Emmanuel Nti

CEO

Alexoo Analytic Consult

(Financial Engineer cum Political Analyst)

0243550049